Betrayal of the Vulnerable: Politics and Issues in Refugee Diplomacy

Refugee politics involves the national and international decision-making process regarding the admission, treatment, and administration of refugees as well as the negotiations determining their fate (Benard, 1986). When Ethiopia went into the current crisis stemming from its rebellious Tigray region, Kenya rushed to close its border with Ethiopia stating that there was need to check against illegal influx of immigrants. Kenya has also on several occasions threatened to close Dadaab and Kakuma settlements housing over 400,000 refugees amidst its row with Somalia. Kenyan security officials argue that the two refugee camps have become recruiting grounds for the terrorist group al-Shabab and bases for planning violent attacks inside Kenya. It is important to note that the September 11^th, 2001, attacks by the militant Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda against the United States accelerated the securitization of the refugee issue (Cooper et al, 2013).

The issue of how to deal with refugees is not a Kenyan problem alone, it is worse with developed nations. According to Cooper et al. (2013), they include the fear of refugees in developed countries who see border control as a measure of sovereignty, reframing refugees as criminals especially by wealthy nations, security concerns as an influx of refugees could create ethnic tensions, limited capacity by poor states to handle large inflows of refugees and on the extreme end, states may generate refugees with the aim of destabilizing other states. Additionally, tactics by developed countries to deny visas to likely asylum seekers or use state instruments to prevent physical access to their borders have been blamed for encouraging people-smuggling. Rich countries strategically try to resettle the educated while the unskilled, disabled and the non-literate are left for poor countries to handle. It is also a common practice of recent to use anti-refugee sentiment as a way of mobilizing electoral support especially for the far right.

Benard (1986) argues that policies of the host country can be used to deny official recognition of refugee status such as Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees in Thailand which was a way of working around international obligations on refugees, the Cold War mentality whereby Ethiopian refugees in Djibouti following the war between Ethiopia and Somalia did not attract a lot of interest but Afghan refugees in Pakistan enjoyed wider support from the West since they were a reminder of Soviet aggression and the use of refugees as political symbols to either weaken or criticize or have them change the policies of their home state. Some were organized into liberation movements such as the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). In Uganda, the UN World Food Program clashed with Hilary Obaloker Onek, the cabinet minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees over the procurement of food for refugees outside Uganda by the World Food Programme (WFP) instead of getting such supplies locally.  Others like Gates (1999) have come out strongly against ill-treatment of child refugees by throwing them into detention camps.

Meanwhile, when it comes to matters refugee diplomacy, career diplomats have been overrun by politicians and by officials from ministries directly in charge of border control, immigration, and internal order whereas the effectiveness of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has largely depended on the norm entrepreneurship of the holder of the office of the High Commissioner (Cooper et al, 2013).  On a positive note, Non-Governmental Organisations such as Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Actions for the Rights of the Children (ARC) work to support measures taken by the Inter-Governmental Organisations by helping with food distribution, health care provision, education, clothing, housing, and advocacy. At the same time, political scholar Professor Peter Kagwanja recently moderated the first-ever Regional Refugee Protection and Solutions Dialogue organized jointly by the UNHCR, EAC and IGAD as according to him, “the Greater Horn hosts 4.87 million refugees and Asylum seekers which is about two-thirds of all forcibly displaced people for all of Africa!”

Finally, we need to talk about climate refugees! Kraemer (2017) opines that Climate triggered migration is an outcome of desertification, sea-level rise, ocean acidification, frequent flooding and conflicts intensified by environmental change. Firm and reliable estimate of potential numbers are not available although forecasts put up to one billion environmental immigrants by 2050. Therefore, it is not too early to develop required policy and create a platform for international cooperation to deal with this projected crisis. It is necessary to provide solutions for the displaced, manage climate risks for the remaining and prepare for future risks.

 

References

Benard, C. (1986). Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 101, No. 4 (1986), pp. 617-636. The Academy of Political Science

Cooper et al. (2013). The Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy. UK: Oxford University Press

Gates, C.J. (1999). Working toward a Global Discourse on Children's Rights: The Problem of Unaccompanied Children and the International Response to Their Plight. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies , Fall, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 1, Symposium: Globalization at the Margins: Perspectives on Globalization from Developing States (Fall, 1999), pp. 299-334

Kraemer, R.A. (2017). The G20 and Building Global Governance for ˮClimate Refugeesˮ. UK: C.Hurst & Co.